UPS Having Trouble Handling Holiday Online Orders

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You would think that companies like UPS would have the holiday rush down pat by now. I mean, it's not like holidays come on the same day every year so you can plan ahead. :rolleyes:

United Parcel Service is facing more holiday volume than it was expecting because everyone likes shopping online for the holidays, reports The Wall Street Journal, which could have a big impact on the season: according to an analysis of millions of packages by software developer ShipMatrix Inc, on-time delivery rates for UPS ground packages based on their usual shipping transit times last week fell to 91%, compared to an on-time rate of 97% during the same week last year.
 
Didn't last year I heard that one of the shipping companies over hired and so had plenty of people for the holidays which ate into their profits?
 
They really should of saw this comming. Online sales increase every year. This year was a massive increase as a lot of retailers decided to post all black friday sales online and a good chunk of people that normally would go out black friday shopping chose not to because nobody wanted to interrupt family time on thanksgiving. They all just did it from their homes.
 
Had a UPS driver drop a PS4 from waist high to the ground the other day. I complained, and the next day he was at my door saying he got a complaint that he delivered it to the wrong door (wrong complaint...). Very confrontational about it. A real dickhead. I thought he was going to start a fight the way he was talking and standing so close to me.

He doesn't like his job, obviously. The kid is fairly young, and just not happy or professional. A real d-bag. Makes me wonder about UPS hiring standards. Sad part is that we had an AMAZING UPS driver before him. Happy every day, always smiling, always asking how you're doing, treats packages with care, always a nice greeting. He got transferred and we got the jerk afterwards.

So far, nothing really late in the day. I think they hire more Christmas help for our tiny little town and it's making a big difference.
 
darkstarcow said:
Had UPS drop a package off a day late and at 10:30pm last week.
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Yeah, that happened to me too once or twice. I feel so bad about it too because the poor UPS delivery driver was like totally overwhelmed and was like saying how they didn't have enough trucks or people to handle the huge demand. It's like everything they do to prepare ends up not being enough and that poor guy is out like working six extra hours a day or something crazy like that.
 
I've had a few packages arrive late this year. UPS and the USPS were the delivery companies.
It was an Amazon Prime 2-day delivery. The one took 4 days (this was after I received the email from Amazon saying it had shipped - that's a different story about how long some of the companies are taking to ship your order).
This started the week of Thanksgiving to current. I should probably complain to Amazon. None of this was really urgent for me, but if you promise 2 day delivery, you should keep your promise.

These companies better watch it. I've read rumors of Amazon possibly starting their own delivery service. I'm not even talking about drones.
 
Well you could be like Walmart and tell people the truck needs to be unloaded in
2 hours.....
 
Well, I rather have a late package from UPS than a broken package from FEDEX. :rolleyes: From my experience UPS does a much better job with deliveries but that could be biased considering I live where their Hub is located.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Had a UPS driver drop a PS4 from waist high to the ground the other day. I complained, and the next day he was at my door saying he got a complaint that he delivered it to the wrong door (wrong complaint...). Very confrontational about it. A real dickhead. I thought he was going to start a fight the way he was talking and standing so close to me.

He doesn't like his job, obviously. The kid is fairly young, and just not happy or professional. A real d-bag. Makes me wonder about UPS hiring standards. Sad part is that we had an AMAZING UPS driver before him. Happy every day, always smiling, always asking how you're doing, treats packages with care, always a nice greeting. He got transferred and we got the jerk afterwards.

So far, nothing really late in the day. I think they hire more Christmas help for our tiny little town and it's making a big difference.
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A person that is happy with the work that they do is a rarity these days. I remember being offered an USPS though my dads friend when I was in my late teens. I refused to take the job because despite all of the " UPS/FedEX/USPS " etc sucks stories I hear, it is almost always other way around lol. The person receiving the package is often the asshole in more cases than the person delivering it. I do have a friend that works UPS in NYC of all places. The crap he has to go through every day with his employer & the people he delivers to is something I could not handle. The job is definitely not for everyone.
 
The ups guy on my route is currently driving a rental truck budget i think.... has for the past week, they are inundated with packages atm- and have to make more deliveries than they had trucks- my local area, the guy says they rented ~20 of the trucks for the holiday season to meet demand
 
It's been pretty crazy on my street. I live on a little cul-de-sac with about 10 houses and the UPS guy has been down my street every day for the last two weeks. He slams on the brakes, sprints from the truck to the front doors, drops the package down (doesn't knock), sprints back to the truck and slams on the gas. I've never witnessed this type of behavior from any of the other delivery companies. Definitely not a job I'd want. They need to adopt a new strategy of "You'll get your fucking package when it comes."
 
yup............last 5 days they keep rescheduling delivery here. USPS also had the same issue.
 
It does make me wonder if there's just a certain threshold where UPS and other shipping companies are just stretched too thin. As you say, it's not like they don't know the holidays are coming, but it might just be that they hit some sort of upper limit where they can't handle more..... and as they get stretched thin with more people shopping online, it's just beyond what's possible.
 
So far all the shipping companies have sucked this season. Packages sitting in the warehouse for days, moved from one site to another, sent UPS and handed off to USPS for even more delays. And why is it so hard to ring the bell or knock on the door? I have to check outside every night just to be sure there's nothing there.
 
The local UPS is a customer of the company I work for. Amazon is also right across the street. I couldn't believe how fdw people were in there during day sort yesterday. Normal day sort starts at 1100, and due to staffing issues, everyone was already in OT, and starting at 0800. Amazon, also a customer, is completely buzzing, but UPS just couldnt do it this year. They did wait an awfuk long time to start their seasonal help advertising this year as well, so who knows.
 
Sp33dFr33k said:
So far all the shipping companies have sucked this season. Packages sitting in the warehouse for days, moved from one site to another, sent UPS and handed off to USPS for even more delays. And why is it so hard to ring the bell or knock on the door? I have to check outside every night just to be sure there's nothing there.
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All that jumping in and out of a truck makes a difference in your day. As a commercial driver, you have 14 hours from the time you start your work to complete no more than 11 hours of driving.
Often times during the Christmas season, youll see UPS and FedEx hiring temp driver helpers. Their job is to do the door running while the driver is looking for the next set of packages. Moving packages off that truck as quickly as possible is cheaper than letting them build up in the distribution facilities
 
I shipped a package within my own state vis usps and it took 4 days for priority 2 day. UPS 2 years back was not prepared. Last year they were too prepared so they purposely didn't prepare for this year. Now they are underprepared again. I honestly feel bad for the delivery guys because the companies they work for can't seem the handle the extra demand properly. It's a month or so of craziness.
 
I bought clothes and UPS is late 2 days on the package lol, no hurries though because its warm right now in Texas....
 
Our last UPS delivery guy was probably *the* #1 delivery guy in town, in my eyes at least. He never dropped a box, was pretty good at being here about the same time each morning. He would even beam a huge smile if half his truck was for us (maybe every other month that would happen). He said they timed nearly every single thing he does. He did some residential deliveries and said sometimes he didn't have the time or focus/energy to bother ringing doorbells or knocking on doors. LOL
 
ir0nw0lf said:
Our last UPS delivery guy was probably *the* #1 delivery guy in town, in my eyes at least. He never dropped a box, was pretty good at being here about the same time each morning. He would even beam a huge smile if half his truck was for us (maybe every other month that would happen). He said they timed nearly every single thing he does. He did some residential deliveries and said sometimes he didn't have the time or focus/energy to bother ringing doorbells or knocking on doors. LOL
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You're right. They watch everything. If there are two houses next to each other with deliveries, they still have to make individual stops. Stop at house one, unbuckle, deliver, go back to truck, fasten seatbelt, pull up 10 feet, unbuckle, deliver and repeat.
 
CreepyUncleGoogle said:
Yeah, that happened to me too once or twice. I feel so bad about it too because the poor UPS delivery driver was like totally overwhelmed and was like saying how they didn't have enough trucks or people to handle the huge demand. It's like everything they do to prepare ends up not being enough and that poor guy is out like working six extra hours a day or something crazy like that.
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Ahh, but he's getting paid time and a half and at a time of the year when it really comes in handy.

Hard to look a gift horse in the mouth.
 
lcpiper said:
Ahh, but he's getting paid time and a half and at a time of the year when it really comes in handy.

Hard to look a gift horse in the mouth.
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Yes, that's true and for as hard as the poor UPS guy that delivers to my area has to work, he really deserves the extra money. Honestly, pretty much all of the people that deliver stuff to me are nice (UPS, FedEx, and USPS) to me. They always smile and make sure to stay stuff like, "Merry Christmas" to me. I'm pretty sure the postal service guy is married though and he should be home with his family instead of out on the roads trying to get mail and packages delivered. The other two guys aren't, or at least they aren't wearing rings if they are so maybe for them it doesn't matter. I haven't asked since that'd be kind of awkward to say, "Oh hi! Thanks for the package. Hey, are you married because since you're working a lot, isn't it stressful to spend the holidays away from your family for so much time?"
 
IMO, more so at this time of year, I much rather buy online than fight with people in the stores. I hate large groups of people to begin with because when that happens the total group IQ falls 20 or more points....
I have been job searching and I can tell you they are really mad for help right now. Of course, I would not want to do it because its back breaking work, and speed is the key... and the pay is well... unless you NEED the job....
 
Direkt said:
The top out rate for delivery drivers is $36/hr.

Yes, I work at UPS.
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Do they still pay the seasonal helpers $8.50 an hour? If so, much less stress working at McD's for the same amount.

I went to one of their group interviews several years ago. The person doing the orientation was just about the rudest person I ever came across. Anyone that showed up late, had visible tattoos, dressed casually, or wasn't enthusiastic about being there was immediately sent packing. After this group session they selected the suitable ones for a second, one-on-one interview. When I found out the job paid so little I had to comment about the way some people were treated. I basically told them to take their $8.50, with zero chance of getting on permanent and zero benefits, and stick it.
 
jevans64 said:
Do they still pay the seasonal helpers $8.50 an hour? If so, much less stress working at McD's for the same amount.
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The starting rate is now $10/hr, still pretty sad. But hey, that's unionized labor for you.
 
Its funny how companies always over react, last year UPS was chastised for over hiring and thus reducing profits so this year they under hire, cant have a good smooth process right?
 
rudy said:
Its funny how companies always over react, last year UPS was chastised for over hiring and thus reducing profits so this year they under hire, cant have a good smooth process right?
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Story of my life dude.
 
Seasonal helpers are $11/hr seasonal drivers are $18/hr. Finding people who can do the job....impossible.
 
UPS has been failing in my area... all overnight deliveries are delayed for 2 sometimes 3 days... they're a mess.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Had a UPS driver drop a PS4 from waist high to the ground the other day. I complained, and the next day he was at my door saying he got a complaint that he delivered it to the wrong door (wrong complaint...). Very confrontational about it. A real dickhead. I thought he was going to start a fight the way he was talking and standing so close to me.

He doesn't like his job, obviously. The kid is fairly young, and just not happy or professional. A real d-bag. Makes me wonder about UPS hiring standards. Sad part is that we had an AMAZING UPS driver before him. Happy every day, always smiling, always asking how you're doing, treats packages with care, always a nice greeting. He got transferred and we got the jerk afterwards.

So far, nothing really late in the day. I think they hire more Christmas help for our tiny little town and it's making a big difference.
Click to expand...
I had a TV for delivery and the UPS guy didn't even bother knocking on the door (I was home all day) and it said that they tried to deliver it but I wasn't here. I called and complained and the UPS guy had some BS excuse after they sent his punk ass right back here to make his delivery. I told him that I had a laptop coming the next day and to actually knock on the door next time. Guy didn't knock and just threw my laptop at the door instead. Fuck UPS.
 
I know my usual UPS guy outside of his job (we are involved in the same sport) and have come to feel bad about ordering so much of the insignificant crap, like vitamins and t-shirts, that I order from Amazon, just so he has to work 12 hour days while I'm on Christmas vacation for two weeks.

He doesn't mind his job so much, it does pay pretty good, except that UPS is a bit disorganized. Essentially someone fills his truck in the morning and tells him not to come back until its all delivered. Hopefully every package is intact, has a label, and needs to end up somewhere on or near his route.
 
Newegg sent my video card via UPS, got in to the local hub early Sunday morning... sat there until Wednesday when they said it "departed" again, I was like "Wait it means out for delivery right?" nope, it departed to the local USPS and they delivered it a day later, I mean if they would have had the option of "your shit is here, if you like you can pick it up now" I would be more than happy, unfortunately 4 days later I finally got it.

Makes me wonder how cheap local USPS delivery of packages is that they'd go that route as opposed to hiring new drivers.
 
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